Month: September 2012

Ten Must See Museums in the World

There are countless museums around the world and I am sure you do not have the time or the money to visit each and every single one of them. Below is a list of ten most important museums from around the globe and if you have seen these, you have seen them all. Well, not really because each museum is unique in its own way, but the following are the best ones. They have collections of paintings by artists that you probably never even heard of. They have been rated based on their popularity, importance and the collection they hold within them. You do not have to be an art lover in order to appreciate art, it will wow you either way. Enjoy the read!

10. RIJKSMUSEUM, AMSTERDAM

This museum holds almost a million different objects for you to admire and appreciate. Considering the Netherlands, this particular museum has the largest collection of art. The museum is internationally popular especially because of the paintings by Dutch masters during the 17^th century and that includes 20 Rembrandts. It was established in somewhere in 1800. The museum has art from the Middle Ages, 18^th and 19^th Century on display as well. There are countless sculptures and pieces of applied art. The main attraction at this place is ‘The Night Watch by Rembrandt’.

9. THE STATE HERMITAGE, ST. PETERSBURG

This particular museum is located in Russia. The museum has around3 million objects that cover the past three centuries. It also displays the development of the world culture from the Stone Age to the twentieth century. It covers French, English, Italian, Spanish, German, Flemish and Dutch art in the Western European Art section alone. It also has two of the twelve original works by Leonardo da Vinci; Madonna with a Flower and Madonna Litta. The Golden Rooms are the main attraction in this place; ladies will love it.

8. THE PRADO, MADRID

The Prado is located in Spain. If you compare it with the others, the collection it offers is not that impressive, even still it is one of the most visited museums in the entire world. It is home to amazing Spanish Art and it displays works from Velasquex, Goya, El Greco and Murillo etc. The museum primarily displays paintings, but it displays many collections of drawings, medals and coins as well. The main attraction at the Prado is ‘The Three Graces’. It is a painting of three naked women that are dancing in a circle. It is the work of Rubens.

7. THE SMITHSONIAN, WASHINGTON

This particular museum is located in the United States of America. It is basically a complex that is comprised of sixteen museums and galleries as well as a National Zoo. It has over 142 million objects to display so make sure you are in comfortable walking shoes because if you visit here, it is going to be a long walk. It is not possible for you to visit the entire museum in a single day so you better break it down into pieces. The main attraction at this place is The National Museum of American History’s exhibition regarding the 11^th September incident.

6. EGYPTIAN MUSEUM, CAIRO

The Egyptian museum is located in Egypt. The museum as we know it was built in the year 1900 and it is home to over 120,000 objects. The objects date from the pre-historic era to the Greco-Roman period. If you are in Egypt, or are planning to visit, make sure you take a trip to this museum. It will be worth it. The main attractions in this museum are the artifacts that belonged to King Tutankhamun.

5. THE UFFIZI GALLERY, FLORENCE

The Uffizi Gallery is situated in Italy. There is an estimate by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization that estimates that around sixty percent of the world’s most popular artworks are located in Italy and half of them are in Florence. So you know that this place is definitely worth a visit if you are in Italy and if you love art. You will find pieces by Leonardo da Vinci, Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Michelangelo, Raphael etc. The Birth of Venus is the main attraction in this Museum. It is by Botticelli.

4. THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, NEW YORK

This particular museum is located in the United States. It is also known as The Met (reminds me of F.R.I.E.N.D.S.). It is located in the NYC and contains over two million pieces in the permanent collection and they are further divided between nineteen departments. It is located on the eastern side of the Central Park. If you consider the area, it is one of the largest art galleries in the world. The Museum was founded in the year 1870. The museum opened for public on 20^th February, 1872. The museum occupies around 2,000,000 square feet of area.

3. THE BRITISH MUSEUM, LONDON

The British Museum is built in the United Kingdom. It was founded in the year 1753. It houses around seven million objects and currently it is displaying four million of those. That easily makes it one of the greatest museums in the world. Around six million people visit the museum each year. If you did not get to see the Egyptian Museum, you can visit here because it contains the largest collection of Egyptian objects outside of Cairo. If you visit here, make sure you go to the Reading Room, it will blow your mind right out.

2. THE VATICAN MUSEUMS, VATICAN CITY

Located in Italy, it contains 22 separate collections. Etruscan art, Egyptian art, modern art, religious art, you name it, and they have it. The mere sight of the Michelangelo’s dome and Bernini’s spiral columns will amaze you. Sistine Chapel and Raphael Rooms are the main attraction in this museum so be sure you pay them a visit.

1. MUSEE DU LOUVRE, PARIS

This is one of the world’s largest museums in the world and is located in France. It is definitely the most visited museums in the world. It contains nearly 35,000 objects from the pre-historic era to the nineteenth century. They are displayed over an area of 60,600 square meters. The museum is in the Louvre Palace. It used to be a fortress that was built in the twelfth century under Philip II. If you go to the basement of the Museum, you will be able to see the remains of the fortress. The museum is house to the original Mona Lisa. It costs 10 Euros to enter and it is worth it. I recently visited. Know that you might not be able to explore the museum in a day.

September 29, 2012
Top Ten Sandbox Style Games

The term Sandbox game is used to loosely describe any game that features open world content. This means that you have an open world to do almost whatever you want. Sandbox games come in a wide variety with different features. Some sandbox games such as Fallout 3 feature an open world for the player to explore but limit your role within the world, while other sandbox games are not only open world but are also built almost entirely user created content. Whether you are an avid video gamer looking for the next open world, or you are a casual user who is looking for something interesting to do with your time, the following games are worth checking out.

10. Assassins Creed

Assassins Creed actually probably fits better under the action video game label than it does under the sandbox label, but it does have a very open world to explore. In Assassins Creed you take on the part of a newly minted Assassin and are tasked with… assassinating people. While the storyline is pretty straight forward, Assassins Creed is on this list because it has some amazing graphics and because it does have a highly detailed and open world. If you like games where you have set objectives but freedom to carry them out however you wish, Assassins Creed will definitely keep you entertained.

9. Grand Theft Auto IV

While Grand Theft Auto IV did manage to create a lot of controversy for itself, it is actually the first big time sandbox style video game. Other games that proceeded Grand Theft Auto IV in the GTA series made attempts to give players a truly open world, but at the time technology couldn’t really make true open world game play a reality. With the release of Grand Theft Auto IV players could for the first time engage in any action their minds could conceive of. What keeps this game this low on the list is that it still restrained players to a particular role, and that there wasn’t much opportunity for user created content within the game.

8. Fallout 3

In Fallout3 you take on the part of a secluded person who grew up in a vault designed to protect its residents form the nuclear Armageddon that turned Washington D.C. into a post-apocalyptic nightmare filled with roving gangs and mutants. As you explored the world you gained experience and ability until eventually you were reunited with your father and brought peace and justice to the world. Aside from the storyline Fallout 3 allowed an unprecedented amount of freedom for players. You could explore the world and ignore any of the quests if you wanted, or you could follow up every quest you found. What keeps Fallout 3 this low on the list is the fact that much like the games above, you were limited to the confines of the world and had no ability to change the environment.

7. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

To put it simply The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is the most massive video game world in history. You can play this game for years and never do everything there is to do and that is what makes it such a wonder to play. To date The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is about the closest thing you can get to an old style pen and paper RPG on any platform and will probably be the benchmark for all other similar games for years to come. However, just like any video game, Skyrim lacks the ability to modify your environment and despite nearly endless possibilities for exploration doesn’t provide a complete sandbox experience.

6. RPG Maker

RPG Maker takes the concept of sandbox games and gives you an increased sense of control over your world. There is no real objective to RPG maker other than you enjoying time creating your very own RPG video game. This is actually a good program that does give users a lot of freedom to create their own rpg and it will keep both adults and children entertained for hours. Where RPG maker is lacking is that it doesn’t allow for you to really do much more than create an RPG, but then again, that’s is the point of this software.

September 17, 2012
Remnants & Organs of Human Body We No Longer Require

5. Coccyx the Tailbone

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The coccyx , commonly referred to as the tailbone , is the final segment of the ape vertebral column. Comprises three to five separate or fused vertebrae (the coccygeal vertebrae) below the sacrum. In humans and other tailless primates (e.g. great apes) the coccyx is the remnant of a vestigial tail, but still not entirely useless; it is an important attachment for various muscles, tendons and ligaments — which makes it necessary for physicians and patients to pay special attention to these attachments when considering surgical removal of the coccyx. Additionally, it is also part of the weight-bearing tripod structure which act as a support for a sitting person. Nevertheless coccyx, or tailbone, is the remnant of a lost tail. All mammals have a tail at one point in their development; in humans, it is present for a period of 4 weeks, during stages 14 to 22 of human embryogenesis. This tail is most prominent in human embryos 31–35 days old.^[7] The tailbone, located at the end of the spine, has lost its original function in assisting balance and mobility, though it still serves some secondary functions, such as being an attachment point for muscles, which explains why it has not degraded further.

4. Wisdom Teeth

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W isdom teeth are the four third molars , present in the upper and lower jaws. Wisdom teeth usually appear between the ages of 17 and 25. Most adults have four wisdom teeth, but it is possible to have more, in which case they are called supernumerary teeth. Wisdom teeth commonly affect other teeth as they develop, becoming impacted or “coming in sideways”. They are often extracted when this occurs. About 35% of the population does not develop wisdom teeth at all. Wisdom teeth are vestigial third molars that human ancestors used to help in grinding down plant tissue. The common postulation is that the skulls of human ancestors had larger jaws with more teeth, which were possibly used to help chew down foliage to compensate for a lack of ability to efficiently digest the cellulose that makes up a plant cell wall. As human diets changed, smaller jaws were selected by evolution, yet the third molars, or “wisdom teeth,” still commonly develop in human mouths.Currently, wisdom teeth have become useless and even harmful to the extent where surgical procedures are often done to remove them.

3. Outer Ear

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The ears of a Macaque monkey , and most other monkeys, have far more developed muscles than those of humans and therefore have the capability to move their ears to better hear potential threats. Humans and other primates such as the chimpanzee however have ear muscles that are minimally developed and non-functional, yet still large enough to be identifiable. A muscle attached to the ear that cannot move the ear, for whatever reason, can no longer be said to have any biological function. In humans there is variability in these muscles, such that some people are able to move their ears in various directions, and it has been said that it may be possible for others to gain such movement by repeated trials. In such primates the inability to move the ear is compensated mainly by the ability to turn the head on a horizontal plane, an ability which is not common to most monkeys—a function once provided by one structure is now replaced by another. The outer structure of the ear also shows some vestigial features, such as the node or point on the helix of the ear known as Darwin’s tubercle which is found in around 10% of the population. Darwin’s point, or tubercle, is a minor malformation found in a substantial minority of people and takes the form of a cartilaginous node or bump on the rim of their outer ear, which is thought to be the vestige of a joint that allowed the top part of the ancestral ear to swivel or flop down over the opening to the ear.

2. Male Nipples

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Men’s nipples, cited as vestigial structures, are in a sense vestigial and are analogous to vestigial structures such as the remnants of useless pelvic bones in whales but are not truly vestigial because they are not remnants of functional male nipples in ancestral species. They occur because nipple precursors are grown early in the development of the human embryo, before sexual differentiation. Later in life these structures become more fully developed in women. The presence of nipples in male mammals is a genetic architectural by-product of nipples in females. So, why do men have nipples? Because females do.

1. Palmar Grasp Reflex

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Not a structure but a vestigial behavior, the palmar grasp reflex appears at birth and persists until five or six months of age. When an object is placed in the infant’s hand and strokes their palm, the fingers will close and they will grasp it. The grip is strong but unpredictable; though it may be able to support the child’s weight, they may also release their grip suddenly and without warning. The reverse motion can be induced by stroking the back or side of the hand. The palmar grasp reflex is supported to be a vestigial behavior in human infants. When placing a finger or object to the palm of an infant, it will securely grasp it. This grasp is found to be rather strong. Some infants—37% according to a 1932 study—are able to support their own weight from a rod, although there is no way they can cling to their mother. The grasp is also evident in the feet too. When a baby is sitting down, its prehensile feet assume a curled-in posture, much like what is observed in an adult chimp.An ancestral primate would have had sufficient body hair to which an infant could cling unlike modern humans, thus allowing its mother to escape from danger, such as climbing up a tree in the presence of a predator without having to occupy her hands holding her baby.

September 15, 2012
20 Incredibly Strange X-Ray Images

Being a physician myself, I say we experience a loads of X-Rays each day but sometimes they are incredibly odd leaving us in wonder how and why it’s like this. So i decided to search for more of these and came up with a few here. To the best of my knowledge, these X-Rays are real and haven’t been photoshoped or altered in any way with the exception of one at the end (in bonus).

Fateh, a prison inmate in Pakistan, woke up one morning with a glass lightbulb in his anus. Fateh, who was serving a four-year sentence for making liquor, prohibited for Muslims, said he was shocked when he was first told the cause of his discomfort. He swears he didn’t know the bulb was there.

This X Ray revealed a cell phone in the rectum of a Smuggler in San Salvador who was kept as a prisoner for charge of attempting to smuggle various objects across border including cell phones.

Simon Hooper, wanted a £1,750 ring for his girlfriend so he went to a jewellers and ate one. He was caught after police ran a metal detector over his stomach. An X-ray image of the ring was produced – and Hooper told officers it was a piece of foil. A few days in the cells, a high fibre diet, and the ring appeared. Hooper got 12 weeks chocky. And some lucky girl got a sh**y ring

This X Ray shows Lakshami, Lakshmi Tatma was born joined to a “parasitic twin” that stopped developing in her mother’s womb. She absorbed the limbs, kidneys and other body parts of the undeveloped fetus. Thus, not only did she have eight limbs, she had four kidneys, entangled nerves, two stomach cavities and two chest cavities.

God knows what people swallow in there leaving us in a mystery and wonder how and why did it get in there.

D’oh! This figurine of Homer Simpson was inside a chocolate egg eaten by ten-year-old Dixie, a Dalmatian collie living in Aberdeen. Mmmmmmm, edible Homer.

Magic balls? No! Haley Lents, 8, of Indiana swallows 10 magnets and 20 steel balls from a Magnetix toy set – she says they looked like sweets. The magnets attract, tearing eight holes in her intestines.

This X-Rays shows a metal keyring featuring an Eiffel Tower souvenir embedded in the hand of Amy Preston, 28. Amy was carrying her keys in her hand as she went jogging on Tuesday when she fell and landed on the keyring resulting in two legs of the souvenir embedded in her hand.

A 27-year-old Chinese man ended up with a pair of 9cm long and 4cm wide scissors stuck in his esophagus after they slipped while he was using them as a toothpick.

Patrick Lawler went to the dentist complaining about a toothache in the top part of his mouth, the dentist found that the construction worker had embedded a four inch nail into his skull several days earlier while using a nail gun, without knowing it.

The X-Ray of the teaspoon swallowed by a 12-year-old King Charles spaniel called Millie, owned by David Stanway of Crewe. It certainly gave her paws for thought.

September 4, 2012
Facts about the Edinburgh Castle

Edinburgh castle is located in Edinburgh, Scotland. It dates back to the twelfth century. It is now a museum and a tourist attraction and has served many different purposes in the history, but it is uncertain as to what exactly its purpose was back when it was constructed and the reason why it was constructed. The interesting bit is that it sits atop an extinct volcano. Did the people back then know that the rock is volcanic? If so, did they know it was extinct? Enjoy the read, we have listed down ten amazing facts about the castle itself.

10. MONS MEG CANNON

Mons Meg Cannon is a gigantic supergun that was made around 1449. It used to fire huge solid cannon balls made out of stone; almost thrice the size of an average human head. Considering the year it was made, it is to my amazement really that the cannon could be fired at a distance of 2 miles. Please note that the cannon ball used to weigh 400 pounds. The ritual of firing the One O’Clock Gun continues to date. The gun is fired at one every day except for Sunday. This particular ritual first began in 1861.

9. EDINBURGH MILITARY TATTOO

This particular event takes place in August in Scotland at nighttime. The entire event is telecasted all over the world and thousands of people come to witness this amazing spectacle. Hundreds of bagpipes and drums are played while you see the Scottish regiment parade in their traditional kilt. You get to hear Scottish songs, see various performances and witness amazing display of fireworks. The event ends with a mournful tune, to pay respect to the dead.

8. LAIRD’S LUGS

If you happen to visit the Great Hall of the Castle, you will notice a window far above the fireplace. These holes or windows are called Laird’s Lugs in Scotland and that means ‘Lord’s ears’. King James IV would use this hole to eavesdrop on important meetings. When Gorbachev planned to visit the castle in the year 1984, the Soviet national security insisted that the hole should be closed because it was just that effective.

7. HAUNTED

It is reported that Edinburgh Castle is one of the most haunted places in all of Scotland. The most famous ghost of the castle is Lone Piper. Several secret tunnels were discovered underground. They ran from the castle to different parts of the city. A piper boy was sent down the tunnels and he was asked to keep playing the piper so his progress could be charted. The piper stopped and a search party was sent. He had vanished. Legend has it that you can sometimes hear a piper from within the grounds. That is scary.

6. MYTH

Do you believe in superstitions? Even if you don’t, I am sure you will not be willing to try this one out. This particular superstition applies to the students of University of Edinburgh. It is said that if they ever pass through the gates of the castle, they shall fail their final examinations. Many students are terrified because of this particular superstition. They aren’t really in a position to test it either because what if it actually stands true. Failing the final examinations is not worth a visit to the Castle. You guys can go after you graduate though, the curse will be lifted.

5. STONE OF DESTINY

Edinburgh Castle is home to the Crown Jewels of Scotland and with them rests the ‘Stone of Destiny’ also knows as ‘Stone of Scone’. It is a traditional coronation stone of all the Kings and Queens of England and Scotland. That stone has been fought for by England and Scotland many a times. There are rumors that the actual stone does not exist anymore and that it was swapped for a fake one somewhere in the thirteenth century. The actual stone is hidden. It is uncertain whether anyone knows its location, of course it this legend is true.

4. DUNGEONS

Dungeons are common to almost every castle around the world. There are several dungeons in this particular castle as well. Many prisoners over time have been held in these dungeons and forgotten about (death in solitude; what a painful way to die). There is a dungeon right below the floor of King James’ birth chamber. It is not known as to who was put in that dungeon. Not many people are aware of its existence. Now, I am not sure, but if you are in the area, try visiting and take a closer look.

3. ST. MARGARET’S CHAPEL

The several buildings of the Edinburgh Castle date between the twelfth century and the eighteenth century. So which is the oldest building? It has to be the St. Margaret’s Chapel. It is actually the oldest building in all of Scotland and was constructed in the early twelfth century in the memory of Queen Margaret. The legend has it that she died in the year 1093 because of a broken heart. She heard the news of the death of her husband and she could not handle it. Her husband was King Malcolm III.

2. THE CASTLE

The castle itself has not only been used as a place of royal residence. The castle has been used as a prison and a military garrison as well. The Edinburgh Castle is one of the most important castles in Scotland. It has been attacked numerous times and it was the center of many wars. These days however, it serves as a national monument (an important one at that), a museum and a tourist attraction. It dominates the skyline of the entire city and is pretty easy to spot. If you are around, do give the place a visit; you will not regret it.

1. CASTLE ROCK

Castle Rock makes the top of the list. According to the archaeological reports this rock is said to be around 700 million years old. It used to be volcanic but now that is extinct. Castle Rock sits almost in the middle of the city and to think it used to be volcanically active. Traces of human inhabitance have been found since the Bronze Age, that is to say around 850 BC. A royal castle has been on the very spot since the twelfth century. Considering this, the rock is very aptly named.

September 1, 2012